Mobbed at Work

My husband was mobbed at work. This began almost 6 years ago. My husband moved to a new job. He was fast tracked through a power plant due to his experience and in 3 months was a shift engineer. This did not sit well with his co-workers, some of whom had been there 20 years and thought they should have gotten that position.

A group of Stan's (husbands made up name) co-workers got together and decided to give him a hard time on a daily basis. When the harassment first started Stan tried to talk to the plant manager about it. The plant manager was in complete denial. This man listened to the radio all day long and had to have heard the stuff that was being said and the invitations to physical violence and did nothing.

Although his behavior at home was deteriorating, Stan coped at work as he was able to get away from the situation on his days off. When they became short handed and Stan had to start working 12 hour days 7 days a week he had a complete break-down. He had it out with the assistant manager, walked off the job and never went back.

His doctor put him on state disability for the next year. Stan slept for the next 6 months. Months 6 through 12 he was able to stay up for a couple of hours at a time. It took a couple of years before he could stay awake all day. In the mean time we had gone though his year's disability and the 1/4 year unemployment the state allowed him (after working steadily for 30 years). The stock market had taken a huge drop and his 401K wasn't worth much anymore, but it was all we had. That got spent over the next year. He eventually went to work in a paint store. He found himself in a situation with a co-worker that was a bully. She was very manipulative and knew how to set him up for trouble and he wouldn't even realize what had happened until he came home and relayed the events of the day. This lasted 6 months. He once again tried to talk to his employer to no avail. His employer's were scared of losing this women because of her knowledge in the industry even though customers had complained about her. Stan saw the end coming and quit before they could fire him.

Stan went into another depression. We can't make our monthly expenses on my paycheck and started using credit cards. The feeling was that Stan had always worked and would return to work soon. That has not happened. We are now over-burdened with debt and Stan can't find work. He got his truck driver's license and can't find employment because everyone wants experience. He is 55, gained a lot of weight during his depressive episodes and he faces rejection at every employment turn.

When he first left the power plant, I read the book "Mobbing in the Workplace". I thought I could stand by Stan and handle this. I really felt that we could get through this together.

Stan is doing better emotionally than he has since before this roller coaster started and I am a wreck. I get up 5 days a week, pull my self together and go to work. I have weekend days where I suffer complete despair and can't get out of bed. I am tired and don't want to do this anymore. I now have panic attacks and am suicidal.

If I ever talked to another woman in this situation, I would tell her to get out of the relationship and run as fast as she could.

The toll this has taken is unimaginable. Broke and destitute is not how I imagined these years. I imagined more joy when I finally had grandchildren (got 3 in 6 weeks this year).

Bullying/mobbing takes its toll on the whole family. Its cost runs the gamut from financial, relationships, physical health and mental health. There needs to be protections against this type of behavior everywhere in society and not just against protected classes of people.

Mobbing has ruined our life. At our age employers don't want to take a chance, don't want to spend money training and don't care. The only solace I have right now is that if something happens to me, he will have enough to live on for a while.

Comments for Mobbed at Work

Hello, I agree - there needs to be some recourse for mobbing victims. It is devastating financially, emotionally. I just lost my job of 21 years to mobbing. It was unbelievable - alot of people got their kicks from bullying me. The girl behind it was a psychopath and envious of me and spread around malicious rumors so that alot of people thought I was a monster. The director had IT shut off my server connection when the psychopath coworker asked for an asap survey (needing the server). Evil director thought she was above the law but I think they finally connected her with that incident so I hope they figured her out and fired her sorry bu-tt. The coworkers did major sabotage of my work and still work there go figure. My cubicle contents came in toilet paper boxes - that's the mentality I was up against my last year only to get brutally fired for calling former director for help. It was so unjust but I don't want it to ruin me. I don't know how such cruel people look at themselves each day. Good luck and I hope it gets better for you. I can't wait to work with normal (nice) people. It will all be okay!!!!

bullied at workby: Anonymous

I was bullied too by an abusive boss then later by everyone in the whole company (also known as mobbing). When I was trying to find support from friends (from the debilitating anxiety), they thought I was just crazy and they later bullied me as well. My family didn't even offer support. Love was being stripped down all around me, and it was just me facing the world coldly single handily.

Then I had a mental breakdown, I lost everything I had ever worked hard for. I too spent 6 months doing nothing but sleeping to get better from the breakdown. I then contemplated suicide for months.

Thankfully, years later, I got back up and picked myself up, and found a new support system. I found a better position within a company and am being promoted quickly.

The years of my prior experience and breakdown still leaves a horrible scar on my soul.

There needs to be some legal protection against workplace bullying to protect people's livelihood and emotional health.

There is nothing wrong with youby: Anonymous

I too have been mobbed at work and recovery is steady but is possible. I returned to work after being off for 5 months and the undermining and sabotage continued. I later left but was surprised by the fact that grown adults knew what was happening and engaged in it. I was really surprised by my so-called friends I felt very betrayed and find it very difficult to trust people from work. This can be isolating but my confidence is beginning to come back. Always remember there is nothing wrong with you and that the behaviour is not your fault and no one deserves that level of abuse!!!!!!

I am another one in this terrorific listby: Anonymous

I have been abused, mobbed and bullies for the past 4 years in my office. All adults, educated professionals, all responsible for their acts.After 4 years of having my life destroyed, the 2 leaders of the mob, 1 director and a senior associate resigned / were forced from the office. The bullying continues, as they recruited half of the office just to make my life impossible. I do not trust most of the people there, and my soul is totally broken.All that these sick people are doing is illegal, against the law, it's of a criminal nature. They are killing people.This is corruption, not with money, but with power, and if nothing is done, it will take over the society. I've seen lots of people running away from work places, just because envious people believe they own a place that it doesn't belong to them. This is a very primitive mentality. This cause brain damage and the life of many people. Someone has to understand this...

Bullys should be firedby: Anonymous

Iv been in my job 12 yrs and at the moment being bully mobbed .Caused by a very minipulated person and managment have joined in .I was of work for 5months had a break down and took an overdose .Tryed to pick mysef up went back to work and the bullying continues with corupt managment i think there should be laws

feeling broken - gluing back piece #443 of 1000 of myself back together by: Anonymous

I really feel for people here. It's horrible to be called names insinuating there's something horribly wrong with you, (me)! When feeling horrible thoughts about myself I read the experiences of others, and psychologists' description of the 5 phases, seeing with 20/20 how everything was planned.

I just don't understand why, if someone isn't wanted anymore, or doesn't "fit", (even if due to envy, etc.), why can't they just package a person out-??!!

I have a broken immune system, my skin on my feet and hands does not hold together well. I feel achey and exhausted all the time. A rift between my daughter and I has developed- in some ways it may be irreparable... All I can hope is that after I left, the sociopathic woman behind it all showed her true ineptitude!

Librarians can be crazy, vicious peopleby: S. van der Graaff

I have worked in 3 research libraries in Illinois with so-called professional people. In all 3 places, I was both mobbed and bullied, and I later found out about coworkers who had also been either mobbed or bullied. Because NOTHING is ever done to fix this ridiculously twisted situation, the evil bullies continue to run things and the dysfunctional bullying culture persists. Ironically, the biggest culprits were those in higher positions who have NO EXCUSE because because they have access to numerous articles and books on the subject of bullying and mobbing in academic libraries. Some of the bullying was overt (a weird game was actually played, with me as the object), but some was covert too. There's a lot of professional jealousy in libraries, and a lot of very weird people who fancy themselves intellectuals too. Bad combination. Pardon me, but I hope they never succeed in filling the positions they've advertised. They totally deserve to have to suck it up and do the grunt work themselves. :)

Affiliate Disclosure — Many of the products and services we advertise and recommend on this site provide us with an affiliate commission for referrals. We are also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.